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The toxicology reports for two Ole Miss students who died on Sept. 21 has been completed, an official tells Digital.
Ole Miss students Aidan Hamilton, 18, and Robert Strang, 20, were found dead on Sept. 21, both with similar packages of kratom or synthetic kratom found to be in their possession, according to the court documents. Officials detailed that Hamilton “could have died due to a Pulmonary Edema,” which would be consistent with a drug overdose. Strang was found “cold to the touch” when first responders arrived at his house near campus.
Alex Gibert, press secretary for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told Digital that the toxicology report for Strang and Hamilton has been completed. The findings will be handed over to the Lafayette County coroner and shared with the families.
The news comes as the American Kratom Association is set to host a news conference on Wednesday, criticizing the “delay in publicly identifying the specific products purchased by two Ole Miss students before their deaths.”
The group says these tablets “are not natural kratom leaf and that students should have been specifically warned about these products under investigation.”
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Robert Strang and Aidan Hamilton in a split image provided by their families. (Strang family, Kathleen Hamilton/Facebook)
Packaging on the kratom items found near both men were labeled “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets, which is a “Kratom like substance at gas stations or tobacco shops” that people buy for the “narcotic like effect,” according to the court documents.
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Hamilton made several purchases in September at Puffs Vape, Tobacco and Beer Store in Oxford, where workers Yahya Mohamed Mosleh, 51, and Islam Mohamed, 18, were arrested and face a charge of possession of a controlled substances with intent to distribute. Officials did not say in the court documents that the kratom found near him when he died came from that store. One of the purchases was made one day before Hamilton was found dead.
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Packages of synthetic kratom products, including Smax Pseudo-DHM and Smax Pseudo tablets, that authorities say were found at the scene where Robert Strang was discovered dead. (Court records)
One hour after finding Hamilton dead, police were dispatched to a house near campus and found Strang dead. A package of the “Smax, Pseudo-DHM” tablets were found on his nightstand, along with 20 to 30 nitrous oxide cans, known as “whippets,” which Strang’s roommates said he used daily. Strang’s roommates told officers that he was watching football and took a Xanax bar the day before being found dead.
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Officials said the synthetic kratom-derived product Strang had bought was purchased at a gas station about 30 minutes away from Oxford.
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Stewart Hall, a dorm building on the University of Mississippi campus where an 18-year-old students is believed to have died on Monday. Dispatch records show first responders arrived within a minute of being sent to the address. (Adam Sabes/ Digital)
The precise role kratom played in the deaths of Hamilton and Strang has not yet been determined.
